The Irish bog is a remarkable environment. Not only is there a wide diversity of flora and fauna to be found, but these wetlands also provide a rich resource for archaeological discoveries. Things survive under the bog. Materials that would generally perish , wood, leather, and even the soft tissue of a human body, may…
Tag: Longford
A Causeway Over Móin Lámraige
The wind’s touch was cold. It fingered his cloak, lifting the edges, finding the fissures between folds of the wool. He shivered, but he did not move to pull the mantle further about him. He must not move. He must not be seen, hiding there among the reeds. It was full dark, a crescent moon…
Dindshenchas 11: Tocmarc Étaíne 3 – A Game of Fidchell
As we reach the final section of “The Wooing of Étaín”, a game of fidchell leads to some epic gains and losses. There will be archaic poetry, incest, a War of the Worlds and some civil engineering. Join the Story Archaeologists as they encounter a tale where text and archaeology come together in an extraordinary…
The Brú na Bóinne and Brí Leith
The story of “The Wooing of Étaín” is primarily set in two locations, that of the Brú na Bóinnein County Meath and Bri Leith in County Longford. Both are of great mythological importance, yet the Brú na Bóinne (Newgrange) is, of course, a World Heritage site and Bri Leith (Ardagh Hill) is little known. This…
The Dindshenchas of Carn Hill, Co. Longford – Carn Furbaide
Carn Furbaide, the cairn of Furbaide Fer Benn son of Conchobar and Eithne Úathach, seems to be on Carn Hill in Co. Longford, a proverbial stone’s throw from Midir’s sid on Brí Leith / Ardagh Hill. (See Hogan’s Onomasticon Goedelicum, Letter C). As ever, terms with notes below are in bold, and the notes are…